A song for a thousand-step journey
by Tsubame99
Summary: In which Nanase Riku is one of the veteran player of Elder Tale, being only 7 when the game was first released and started playing ever since one of his friends in the hospital introduced him to it. And of course things went different in every way possible. Cross posted on Ao3
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:**

Hello, I'm a newbie who had just joined this fanfiction writing community a couple of weeks ago.

I had just recently fall down the deep hole called "IDOLiSH7's fandom" and I can't get out, so, this is the result of that fall. A crossover that I think no one really need but did it anyway. And I admit, I'm not patience enough to write everything from the start, so I glossed over many things. So to understand what is happening in this fanfic, knowledge about the anime IDOLiSH7 and Log Horizon is required. I bet that there are still many grammatical errors up there, so if you can point it out for me I'll be very thankful.

P.S: And I'm not gonna be able to update regularly, because writer's block is a pain… maybe every 3 weeks to once a month…or more depend on my inspirations and the amount of homework and deadlines in school…

CHAPTER 1

IDOLiSH7 still remembered that day vividly. It was several days before their first outdoor concert (their first ever concert even). Their manager had given them 3 months to become familiar with each other and later, with their new dorm, although of course they still keep their reason to be an idol secret (well except Mitsuki and Tamaki who will say if asked). They had even learned to adjust themselves to ease some of Riku's burden, worried for his health (even if said center didn't like it).

And then that day, all except Riku went out to either work or study. They all met on the way back and decided to go together when the news on the screen on the sides of the buildings was interrupted by the breaking news of thousands of people all over the world went missing in their own home at the same time. Their similarity is that all of the missing people were sitting before their computer, waiting for the launch of Elder Tales' upgrade version - the game is very famous with 13 servers worldwide (three of which were in Japan) and was having its 10-year-anniversary. Nagi then had a horrified expression on his face.

"Nagi, what's wrong?" Mitsuki asked worriedly

"I just remembered, Riku said that he has been playing Elder Tale since it first launched, and he's staying home to wait for the upgrade today!" Nagi said in panic while jumbling in his English-Japanese way of speaking

"Then we should hurry back!" Iori had already started running, prompting the others to go after him

The six of them got back in record time and started running to Riku's room right away, hoping to see their cheerful center. However, what greeted them was an empty room, with the computer still on, the screen with the letters 'CONGRATULATION' flashing in different color under Elder tales' logo. Everything started to get worse and worse, the remaining six member began to have more and more disagreements and fights. Riku was the glue that kept them together, even if the red head didn't know it. They didn't want to believe that their center, their friend was gone, along with thousands of other people without them knowing whether he is still alive.

Their turning point had been when they were deciding their group name. Originally most of them want 'IDOLiSH7' as their group's name, but without Riku the name seemed wrong in some way. That was until Tamaki surprisingly became the voice of reason.

"Nee, can we still have that name? I don't want it to change" the light blue haired male said thoughtfully

"Tamaki? Why..?" Sougo asked in surprise

"Even if we don't know where Rikkun is...we don't know if he's even alive either...But it also means that someday Rikkun may come back right? I'm not saying we leave that center spot alone, I just think that Rikkun is still one of us and he still want to be an idol" Tamaki said while eating his pudding and ignoring the others' gazes

"Yes! I agree with Tamaki-kun on this! Riku is still here in our heart, and we will carry on his dream with this name!" Nagi said excitedly

"Don't talk like Riku is dead, you idiot!" Mitsuki yelled in anger, then said softly "He's not..."

"I wonder if Riku is angry with our behavior this past week...will he lecture us or will he try to force us to eat his super bitter dish as punnishment?" Sougo smiled sheepishly while trying to imagine their center's face

"Maa, we will make up for this by performing our first outdoor concert to the best of our abilities" Yamato said to the group

"OU!"

Thanks to this, their concert was a success even though there were only 9 people watching. Time flied by quickly, first came their 2 months ban, then TRIGGER's live, at which Yamato, Tamaki and Nagi met Kujou Tenn, who was about to collapse from exhaustion, and helped him getting to the venue. After that was being accused of trying to steal TRIGGER's fan after the live, while the truth is that they felt too restless seeing the star group performing. Then the debuting of MEZZO, which consist of Tamaki and Sougo. Going to Okinawa to make their first MV for the new song, and meeting TRIGGER again at the same place. Their own song being stolen by TRIGGER's composer, their first failed performance at MusicFesta, their own self-made channel to interact with fans. Yamato's first acting in a movie, Tamaki's disastrous reality show which led to Sougo collapsing and admitted about his family situation. And their nomination for JIMA Newcomer Award.

The six of them sometimes went into Riku's room to tell their stories. There were times when they came in together and told their stories, inserted with their own thoughts, and there were times some of them went in alone when things got too much. It's a way for them to cope with the stress of becoming an idol, their own circumstances and the empty feeling they got when Riku disappeared. They didn't touch anything in the room other than cleaning occasionally, "for when Rikkun come back" said Tamaki. They wanted to pretend that Riku was still there, that he can still hear them. That the red-haired center would listen to their problem without any negative expression like he used to, he would encourage them whenever they feel down, he would make Tamaki his favorite pudding, cook with Mitsuki and Sougo, wautch Magical Kokona with Nagi, tutor Iori and Tamaki,... President Takanashi, Banri and Tsumugi was worried, but even they can't fault the members for this because even they were affected by this. Without Riku, it felt like every thing became a little duller, a little colder.

None of them noticed the silver flute sitting on Riku's night-stand shining a little whenever someone came in the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:**

So, this is chapter 2. It took a different turn from the written version half-way through, though I don't regret it. Please let me hear your thought about this. And thank you for reading :))))

On a side mote, at first I want to do a Shiroe x Soujirou pairing, but Soujirou x Riku called for me instead :)))) and I had had a little freak out when I found out that Soujirou's height is 168 while Riku's is 176...such difference... And Soujirou was supposed to be the seme in this pairing even though in canon he looked more like an uke... Then my friend said that I should just leave it like that, that kind of height difference will be interesting, and when I thought about it properly it did made some amusing scene :)))) So if you don't like the pairing then okay, that's your opinion but please no flame. Constructive criticisms are always welcomed though.

CHAPTER 2:

When Riku came to, what greeted him was a massive tree beside a crystal clear lake, with a familiar silhouette sitting near him.

"Ah, you're awake" Shiroe said "Naotsugu just called me, he's coming here in a moment"

"Shiro-nii, this place...is this Akihabara?" Riku asked while looking at the familiar scene that he usually only see on the computer's screen.

"Yeah, I still don't know how we are here, in our avatar, and are we really inside the game or are we in another world entirely..."

"It's like the anime where people got transported into a game...I wonder if we still have our body in the real world? And can we be revived the normal way at the Cathedral like in the game...?" Riku said softly

"Ooiii! Shiro!" Naotsugu called while running up to them, then he noticed Riku "Oh Riku's here too? I thought you don't have time since you're gonna be an idol and will debut in a few days"

"Hello to you too senpai. It was a stroke of bad luck that I finally have some free time today" Riku smiled ruefully at the Guardian-class

"Ah, I saw the others names' on my friend list, they're all online but I can't reach some of them. Where are they really?" Naotsugu wondered briefly

"Saa~ I wonder...Souji and the others...are they here, in Akihabara...?" Riku asked out loud, remembering the bipolar samurai that he had a crush on

"Ricchan, have you confessed yet?" Shiroe's voice took on a teasing tone

"Please don't call me that senpai...And don't forget I still have those photos that Krusty-san will gladly pay a heap of money for, you know the ones from the university's fair" Riku smiled angelically while an illusion of a knife holding oni with purple aura floating behind menancinglly

"Geh...You're really scary sometimes Ricchan..." Naotsugu said tensely, deeply regretting that he had introduced Riku to Krusty in real life several years ago. Riku had officially became Krusty's apprentice, and was in the process of learning politics, economic, management and dozen of other things from the man. That fact had gave many adventurers, especially in D.D.D., shivers because one Krusty was bad enough, two of the man (the second on with an angelic face to boot) would surely bring on the second Apocalypse to any poor soul stupid enough to earn their ire.

Then came Akatsuki's call for help and the reveal of their real gender and stature. The offer to help Crescent Moon retrieving one of their member in Susukino, meeting Nyanta again and the discover to real food taste. The cream of the cake had been when Shiroe finally decided to start his own guild, Log Horizon with 5 members and the plan to establish the Round Table Conference and destroying Hamelin guild at the same time. Akatsuki, Minori, Touya, Crescent Moon and West Wind Brigade had then witness Seta Soujirou hugging the life out of their resident cinnamon roll Riku the first chance he got, while said boy's face became as red as his hair. Shiroe, Naotsugu and Nyanta only looked on with amusement, having been witnesses to the two's dancing around each other ever since Tea Party.

The new guild member and the other guild leaders in the Round Table had also seen with their own eyes Riku's unrivaled power in info gathering to the point some of them thought the red haired boy can come and go anywhere and know every thing. Especially Honesty's guild members, as the guild's policy is to accept anyone who wanted to join, there are many who joined just to have the benefits of staying in a big guild, and did nothing except moping or sitting around or try to use other's results for their own gain. The amount of skeletons Riku dug up on Honesty member individually was so much it filled out a whole bag of document (said bag was the magic one that every players level 40 and above got, which had the inside much bigger than the outside). Honesty guild master, , was so relieved about the problem of his unruly members that he came close to worshiping the ground Riku walked on (he had already joined the not-so-secret cult who literally worshiped Riku like a Seraphim - which was one of his title - or an Angel. Of course they can't really stalk a literal information broker slash assassin...)

They were settling into their new guild house after Touya, Minori and Isuzu joined. Shiroe was in the process of finishing some documents when Riku poked his head in through the door way to his office timidly.

"Shiroe-nii...I need to report some thing..."

"Ah, Riku, come on in. And please close the door" Shiroe looked up from his document "Is there anything wrong?"

"Am I going crazy Shiroe-nii" Riku suddenly asked

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"When I'm asleep...sometimes I can hear the voices of my friends, telling me about what happened to them..." Riku said, hesitance clear in his voice

"Are you sure it's not you dreaming about the past?"

"No...What they said to me are things that hadn't happened in the past, things that I didn't know...like it's what happening in the real world..."

"What do they talked about?" Shiroe asked gently

"About the outdoor concert that we're gonna do before being brought here, about their new songs and about their 2 months ban until TRIGGER's live tour..."

"TRIGGER's that famous idol group that your twin is in isn't it?" Shiroe said thoughtfully, suddenly remembering the time when Tenn left home without explanation, and Riku's admittance to the hospital right after that for a particularly bad attack

"Hai...the day we were brought here was on May 5th, and our concert was supposed to be on May 15th...It's been almost 2 weeks in the real world..."

"And it had been almost 5 months here..." Shiroe silently calculated in his head

"I was very happy, to hear their voices once again...but at the same time...I think I will go crazy with regret and what if and the desire to go back home will become so strong it will ruin my other senses...What should I do?" Riku turned towards the spectacles wearing Enchanter, his eyes full of turmoil

"Riku...Don't worry" Shiroe patted Riku's head affectionately and smiled "I will definitely find a way for us to come back. In the mean time, whenever things got too much for you, you have me, Soujirou-chan, Krusty-san, Naotsugu and Nyanta-hanchou here. We will help you in any way we can, like you did for us in the past. Be a little more selfish, Riku"

"Hai...Thank you Shiroe-nii" Riku smiled brightly, flowers and sparkle appearing around him forcing Shiroe to turn away to hide his blushing face "Shiroe-nii? What's wrong?"

Riku titled his head, and Shiroe suddenly feel the need to have a barricade in the guild house, specifically Riku's room and outside the doorway into the building

"It's nothing, don't worry so much Riku, I'm fine" Shiroe ruffled Riku's head gently while inwardly thought 'We really need to protect him in case someone want to kidnap this innocent boy...Damn it why is he this cute...'


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:**

This chapter is quite short compare to the first two, so sorry about this (writer block is a pain…).  
This is from I7's point of view again, and next chapter would be from Log Horizon's. The best part is gonna be from Log Horizon's P.O.V, which I promise will be longer than this.

Again thank you for reading this.

CHAPTER 3:

"The winner of JIMA 13th Award, male idol category is...IDOLiSH7!" The MC announced in the deafening cheers from both the fans and from IDOLiSH7 themselves

The six surrounded Yamato, who was holding the cup as if it held the secret of the universe. The party held at their dorm after that was also memorable, with everyone smiling like there's no tomorrow.

IDOLiSH7's schedule then became packed with reality shows' offer, MV videoing and advertising, interviews,... In one of those many interview in Shinooka-san's reality show, one of the host asked IDOLiSH7 a question that every fan was dying to know.

"Yamato-san, can I ask you and your group a question? It's about your group's name" the host asked

"Ah, that. We were quite surprise that no one had asked about it" Yamato said "It's not everyday a group that have only six member have a seven in their name..."

"I think the fans know that it's a sensitive topic for you, so they refrained from asking. Can you tell us?" the host replied

"Well, originally, we were gonna be a group of seven, many of you may have guessed that, and you are not wrong." Yamato said

"He was also meant to be our center..." Iori - I7 current center said

"His voice was very beautiful." Nagi said sadly in English

"But because of an incident, that we will not divulge, he's...you can say that he's not here anymore." Sougo said, unwilling to reveal the whole truth

The moment Sougo said it, almost every one thought that the 7th member of I7 had either been in an accident that made him unable to be an idol or that he was dead. Which was a very different thing from the real truth. There were some people who can sense that I7 was not saying the whole truth and decided to respect the idols' privacy.

"He was, still is, our precious friend and an irreplaceable part of us. Becoming an idol was also his dream, and we want to make it come true. Our name is IDOLiSH7 because even if he's not here physically, he will still stay in our heart and memory, and still stand beside us whenever we face difficulties on our way" Mitsuki said finally, unknowingly sending many fans (girls especially) to tears

"Even if I don't know him, I do know that he'd be very happy for you" the host said kindly

"Thank you" I7 chorused

"Who would have thought they have such a deep meaning for their name" Yaotome Gaku said while watching the reality show that I7 was on

"Yeah...it surprised me a bit" Ryuu said, while Tenn stayed silent, suddenly feeling uneasy

Several days later, Douglas Rootbank came over to their agency and was mistaken to be a light screen repair-man by Iori and Tamaki thanks to their terrible English. After they had settled it (read: President Takahashi and Sougo and Mitsuki threatening them) and asked the elder man for advice, Nagi leveled a serious look at the others.

"You guys, tell me truthfully,...how terrible is your English? Please be honest"

"Well, I only know the basic...enough to have simple conversation" Yamato scratched the back of his head

"I don't really understand any of it, Iori too" Tamaki said, ignoring Iori's shouting "Oi!" behind him

"I can't speak it..." Mitsuki admitted

"Me neither..." Sougo said sadly

"Oh my god...Riku please give me strength wherever you are..." Nagi held his head in his hands and mumbled

"Nagi-san?" Tsumugi asked tentatively

"That's it, you guys are going to re-learn English" Nagi said seriously

"EEeehhhh?!"

"We are idols, there will be more situation like with Douglas Rootbank. English is an international language, we will need it if we intend to be more than what we are now. So, English class, no option."

"Well I do admit we need to learn English" Banri agreed "Maybe I need to learn too, I can only hold simple conversation..."

"I am not saying this to show off, but I can speak 8 languages and Riku alone can speak 6. So all of you, at least study to speak English properly please..."

"EEeehhhh!? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" They chorused

"Yes" Nagi said, then smiled cheerfully "Now we're gonna have our first lesson in English, so please cooperate with me"

"Is it me or the room got colder?" Tamaki said while getting shivers staring at Nagi's smile

"Am I seeing a shinigami behind Nagi?" Mitsuki rubbed his eyes

'I hope we survive this' Sougo prayed silently

So began IDOLiSH7 hellish training in English by Nagi (Banri and Tsumugi also had to join).


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

"So you decide to open a gate connecting us to our old world, instead of trying to send us back the way we came here?" Riku asked Shiroe, both of them sitting on the roof of their guild house.

"Yeah, thanks to Kanami-san, I finally found a solution that's the best for all of us" Shiroe said "If I did try to send us back the way we came here, most of us will have our lives turned upside down. Many wanted to return, but many had also got attached to this world and cannot decide whether to leave or not"

"There are also people like Nureha - whose life was so bad that this world became their salvation. Or like Touya - who was disabled, they cannot walk or talk or hear or see until they came into this world. And there's Rudy, who's originally a Lander" Riku ticked off his fingers, ignoring Shiroe's disturbed look "There's also people like Michikata-san or Yuuta-san (OC), who can't be who they wanted to be in our old world because they have to take over their family bussiness. Students who were pressured to have good grades, to be in good school and have jobs that would get them big salaries, wasting their youth in test and numbers and rankings like Mai, Liliet, Johny, Ryuuji,... Normal worker who slaved themselves in black company or low-paying jobs like Yuko-san, Tejin-san, Alteria-san, Arnold-san, et cetera..."

"You are right like always, Ricchan, but where the hell did you get those info about Nureha and Touya and others?" Shiroe sweatdropped comically

"I'm your information broker, am I not? I have my own way" Riku winked playfully "My point is, you had chosen the right choice for every one except for some higher-ups of the Landers. After the Apocalypse, everything have changed and at the same time, nothing have. We are still us, but our appearance and existence itself have changed. Our old world too has changed, we may not know how much but there will be differences. We cannot return to those days where Elder Tale was still simply a game on a computer, when we still have our own lives. This is our new reality and we have to accept it, or at least part of it to survive."

"Riku..."

"Ah, I'm sorry Shiroe-nii, I spoke too much..." Riku said quickly

"It's alright, I know that you missed your friend and your brother very much, especially when you could hear their voices in your dream..." Shiroe said, gently patting his little brother head

"Sometimes I woke up and thought this is just a nightmare that I can wake up and see my friends and see my brother, even if it's just on TV-shows...I didn't even met or got in touch with him ever since that man took him away..." Riku said, sadness became more and more apparent in his eyes.

"At that time I had wondered why he left us…Have I done something wrong, to make him leave? Was I being a nuisance with my weak, useless body and naïve thinking?" His sight became blurry with tears, but the red head stubbornly did not let them fall "Then Mama and Papa left me too…after the accident, they went away without me…Tenn-nii's reason for leaving, was really because of me… said that a man named Kujou agreed to pay for my hospital bill just after Tenn-nii left…I am really useless, right? I was unable to do anything other than watching my family leaving one after another just because I was too weak…"

"It's not true, Riku" Shiroe said while hugging the smaller teen "You are not useless, and I will continue to say it until you believe it. Tenn-kun really loves you, going through such length to protect his beloved twin brother. And we love you too, that's why don't make it sound like your life is not of any value. Tenn-kun want you to live healthy and happy, and we want you to be whoever you want, to live and laugh and cry with us, to share with us your fear, your pain, your happiness. Especially Soujirou-chan, he loves you very much. I will do my best to open that gate, everyone will, so that we can meet our loved ones again."

Somehow Shiroe had maneuvered them so that Riku is lying on the bench they were sitting on, with his head on Shiroe's lap. The teen's heterochromatic eyes closed slowly, clearly beginning to fall asleep after the emotional rollercoaster he went through.

"Um…I want to…see Tenn-nii again…Yamato-san too…and Mitsuki-san…Nagi-san, Sougo-san…Iori and Tamaki…everyone…" Riku mumbled, gradually began to fall asleep

"How is he, Shiro-senpai?" Seta Soujirou, West Wind Brigade's Guild Master (and Riku's boyfriend) asked the glasses wearing Enchanter

"Yeah, he;s asleep for now" Shiroe said gently "Sorry for making you wait, Soujirou-chan"

"No, it's okay. I hate to admit it but he will open up to you about these kind of problem faster than me." Soujirou said, sitting down next to Shiroe to comb his hand through his boyfriend's red locks.

"You're still his number 1 Soujirou-chan. But maybe that's why he didn't want to burden you with this"

"Then I just have to prove him wrong. He's my light when I was down in the dump, he had been encouraging us and supplying many precious informations that saved many Lander's lives…He's not useless…" Soujirou said sullenly

The next few days, Soujirou constantly came by Log Horizon to cheer Riku up, be it little gifts, having a spar or going out on dates. Other members of Log Horizon and West Wind Brigade thought it was cute and secretly encourage the couple. Their relationship soon got out and spread through Akihabara like fire on dry grass, and many girls and guys alike sighed in disappointment because Soujirou and Riku were not 'available', so to speak. Of course they didn't let that keep them down for long, Akihabara's teenagers quickly turned from wanting either Soujirou or Riku to be their boyfriend to embracing their fujoshi/fudanshi side. While not obvious, every time Soujirou and Riku went out on their dates there were many discreetly admiring them, and the couple was aware but pretend to be obvious about it.

'While I love it here' Riku thought while looking around the market with Soujirou chattering excitedly beside him 'I still want to go back…everyone…'


	5. Chapter 5

_Sand leaf beach_

"Minori's group is doing quite well" Naotsugu said while they were waiting for their MP to recover.

"Indeed-nya" Nyanta said "Minori is learning Shiroe's full control encounter, and she's also a very dedicated student-nya"

"Something's wrong…" Souryuu said while standing up with Hien doing the same

"Souryuu…?" Marielle asked worriedly

"I sense it too-nya…this feeling…" Nyanta said thoughtfully.

"But I don't feel anything…" Naotsugu said, with Marielle and Kawara and Shigeru nodding in agreement.

"Were-people are more in tuned with their intuition than other races, so it's obvious that you won't feel that. But that feeling is rarely wrong, so don't let your guard down." A voice sounded out from behind them.

"Riku-san!" Souryuu said, a little bit startled at the sudden appearance of the red head.

"I think I know what you mean Ricchan" Naotsugu said while standing up, his face turned serious.

"What the…" Hien stood stock still, as did the others when the sea's color turned into a shade of dark blue. The color began spreading rapidly to the point it covered the whole sea shore in 10 seconds. Naotsugu accepted a call from Minori, whose voice showed her panic

" _Naotsugu-san, a large amount of Sahuagin is closing on us! The estimated amount is over 2000. We won't be able to hold on at this rate! And Serara-san' Shrieker Echo had just sounded, Choushi is gonna be attacked by the Goblin army! What do we do now Naotsugu-san?!_ "

"We are going down there now, you guys start retreating back. Tell other trainee groups too." Naotsugu said before turning to the others "I know that our MP are not full yet but we have to get down there, the Sahuagin had got reinforcement."

"But we have what, 8 person here, not counting the trainees, against over 2000 Sahuagins ?! Even if we do count in the trainees, the amount of people wouldn't reach 50! And there's also Choushi! Reinforcement is 2 hours away!" Marille said in panic

"Riku-chi?" Nyanta turned to the silent red-haired assassin

"Let the trainees go defend Choushi in groups, the Goblins are weaker than Sahuagins but I think there will be some Dire Wolves, so get all the trainees there." Riku pulled out a map of the village and its surroundings "Put each group here, here and here. Souryuu-kun, please direct them to their position in here, especially Minori's. We will deal with the Sahuagins here, the amount of Goblins is about 150, so we will leave them to the others"

"Alright, I get to it!" Souryuu said, taking the map from Riku and started to contact the trainees groups.

"How are your MPs?" Riku asked while looking at the rest.

"Mine is almost half full" Naotsugu checked his status bar.

"Me too-nya" Nyanta said

"I'm only a quarter full" Kawara said dejectedly, with several others nodding in agreement.

"There's no other way, eh?...Alright, leave the MP recovering to me, let's get down there and stop the Sahuagins." Riku said, turning to the battle field where the trainees were retreating back.

"Oi oi Ricchan, don't tell me…" Naotsugu said in realization

"There's no time!" Riku cut the burly Guardian off "I know that there's a time limit but if I don't do this then Choushi is gonna turn into a feeding field for monster. Let's go"

"What's going on? Riku-san?" Shigeru asked in confusion.

"There's no time to explain-nya. Try to end this in one hour-nya, we'll explain later-nya" Nyanta said, then rushed into the fray.

"Overskill: Madness Melody" Riku whispered, his scarf turned from white into a blood red, and his eyes glowed in an eerie color.

"What…" Kawara uttered in confusion, her MP suddenly shot up and became full in just 3 seconds, and from the sounds from the others their MP also have the same state. Her HP also became full and her casting time all turned to zero. The orange haired Monk batted away 2 Sahuagins with her Tiger Echo Fist, with the 2 monsters bursting into bubbles, and looked around. Then she spotted Riku dashing in between the Sahuagins, the speed was so fast that the assassin became a red blur, leaving trails of bubbles from defeated monsters after his wake.

The fighting went on, and in a short time the amount of Sahuagins decreased quickly from thousands down to hundreds, then to 90s,… But Naotsugu and Nyanta didn't care much about the monsters other than counting down the time in their head, glancing over to Riku every now and then, the assassin's form blurring in between the waves of monsters, a red streak in the sea of blue. The battle finally came to an end, with the final Sahuagin bursting into bubbles, leaving the rest of the Adventurers drowning in adrenaline and exhilaration. But that didn't last long, as right after the bubbles had dispersed Riku collapsed, like a puppet with its string cut.

"Ricchan!" Naotsugu rushed to where Riku lay, with the others following in panic seeing the red-haired teen collapsing.

"What's wrong with Riku-kun?!" Marielle asked worriedly

Naotsugu turned Riku around so that he is lying face up, and the panic rose. Outwardly the red-head did not have any injuries, but his face became expressionless like a doll, his usually vibrant eyes became dull and unfocused, and his body was limp without any movement. The others watched on with worried expression, Kawara's borderline on panic.

"I knew it…Ricchan you idiot" Naotsugu said in frustration, using his hand to close Riku's dull eyes while whispering quietly 'Go to sleep Ricchan, leave the rest to us', then stood up while holding Riku's limp form in his arms "Let's get going everyone"

"What's going on? Naotsugu? Nyanta-san?" Marielle continued asking while looking at Riku

"Riku-chi used one of his Overskill, Madness Melody, and this is the price for it-nya" Nyanta said calmly, but Marielle could see from the were-cat's eyes that he was also worried.

"I thought that Overskill usually don't have backlash other than the MP and the way to obtain it?" Shigeru asked

"Yes, usually. Because the usual Overskills are minor things like other ways of using a skill or a bonus skill on one of your stats. But Madness Melody is different." Naotsugu said "When you were fighting did you saw anything strange?"

"Now that you said it, my MP and HP shot to the max, and my casting time became almost non-existence." Kawara said with the others voicing their agreement.

"And Riku-san's speed became so fast I couldn't see him clearly" Shigeru added

"That's Madness Melody's effect" Naotsugu explained "When using it, Ricchan can boost the HP and MP of his allies and himself, reduce the casting time for spells and techniques, boost his own stats like speed and strength and agility."

"S-sugoi…such an Overskill..." Marielle said in shock

"But, such a powerful skill came with a price right? Like now…" Kawara said while looking at the unmoving form of the assassin.

"Of course-nya" Nyanta said "First, there is a time limit. This skill can only be used in 50 minutes max"

"And the second, after using this skill, Ricchan will turn like this" Naotsugu said "He cannot move, and cannot interact with his surrounding, it's like he's stuck inside his own mind."

"That…" everyone was shocked into silence at the severity of the after-effect

"He will gradually get better, don't worry" Naotsugu reassured the others "But the time he'll need to recover fully will depend on the amount of time he used to keep the skill going…"

"So based on this, Riku-chi would need about 20 days to a month to be back to normal" Nyanta said

"That long…" Shigeru said quietly

"AH!" Kawara suddenly shouted, startling everyone "Then how will Sou-sama react to this?! We're gonna be cut into sashimi at this rate"

The face of the others became white as paper when Kawara said that, fearing for their lives when the bi-polar Samurai know about the state of his boyfriend. Soujirou might look cheerful and kind, but make no mistake he is one of the top Adventurers of Akiba (and Yamato). Add to that he is also very protective of his boyfriend, the fact that all of Akiba's citizens can attest to (and many still have shivers remembering the poor sod who had tried to flirt with the clueless Riku in the middle of the market, the beating Soujirou gave the guy – who was later revealed to be a kind of monster called "genius" – was recorded as one of the most brutal to date in Akiba, on par with the sadistic Krusty).

"Urggg….Soujirou is gonna kill me…Ricchan you troublesome child…" Naotsugu sighed, looking down at the peaceful sleeping face of the red head

They would be lucky if Seta Soujirou leave them in one piece when they come back to Akiba...


	6. Chapter 6

"So that's what happened…No wonder our MP and HP became full at that time" Minori said thoughtfully

"And the reason why Riku-nii was like that…" Touya said, remembering the panic they felt when they saw Riku lying limp in Naotsugu's arms

"Yeah, and Soujirou-san's reaction to it…" Isuzu shuddered

_FLASHBACK (Third person's POV)_

 _The trainee group had came to the Ancient Palace of Eternal Ice to re-group with the other groups and attend the thank you party. Naotsugu and the other mentors thanked heaven for the fact that Soujirou was being held back by a horde of girls as usual. Riku was still unmoving, his status bar showed how low his MP was – the reason for the hibernating-like state the red head was in. After putting Riku into one of the offered room and reporting the situation to Krusty and Shiroe, Isuzu arrived on Nyanta's griffin with the newly revived Rudy, who was being his normal hyper self. Naotsugu had almost let his guard down in the party, when Soujirou approached him_

" _Naotsugu-senpai, where is Riku? I thought he came with you guys"_

" _Ah…ahaha, Ricchan is sleeping in one of the room provided for us" Naotsugu laughed awkwardly, trying and failing to hide his nervousness_

 _Soujirou narrowed his eyes a little, but said a cheery "I understand" then walked away, ignoring the sigh of relief from Naotsugu and the trainee group. The teal haired Samurai walked around the ball room for a while, then sneaked out towards the private rooms' section after asking a love-struck young lady. It took Soujirou a while to find the room where Riku was in, but when he did it felt like there's a heavy weight on his chest. Soujirou closed the door quietly, then head to the bed where Riku lied. The moonlight from outside came through the window, illuminating the room and the limp form on the bed. Riku looked like he was taking a short nap, his face peaceful and his crimson red hair splayed around his head, coupled with the gentle moonlight the image made you thought this was the dwelling of an angel. But Soujirou knew that it's not true, that the person who he loves more than anything was trap in his own mind for who knows how long. Soujirou sat on the side of the bed, tenderly brushing a stray lock of crimson hair aside then stroking Riku's cheek, smiling sadly:_

" _You was very brave, Riku, but also reckless…using that skill and becoming like this, you gave us all heart-attacks you know? Hurry up and come back, Riku…we still have to go on our first Valentine date when we get back remember?"_

 _Soujirou said gently to Riku, who of course couldn't respond. The Samurai then messaged Nazuna that he would stay in this room with Riku, so everyone have fun without him. Then Soujirou took off his scarf and haori, lying on the bed next to his boyfriend._

" _Good night, Riku…"_

 __The next day__

" _So Naotsugu-senpai…can you tell me why you guys didn't tell me about Riku's condition?" Soujirou smiled with his eyes closed, emitting a black aura which terrified Landers and Adventurers alike._

 _When Naotsugu came to check on Riku with Marielle and Souryuu, they were greeted with Soujirou murderous smile from where he was sitting next to the bed. The group of trainees' mentors had tried to run, but Soujirou had used the capture rope he got from Riku several months prior to get all of them (yes even Nyanta couldn't escape, the rope were woven with Demon Spider's web and covered with seals and symbols for finding and trapping multiple targets). Now they were in the Palace courtyard, with Naotsugu, Marielle, Nyanta, Souryuu, Shigeru, Hien and Kawara tied up together in front of the pissed off Guild Master of West Wind Brigade, with other Adventurers and curious Landers peeking out to watch. At first most of them were staying in the courtyard, but the moment Soujirou released his black aura all of the Landers and Adventurers had gone to hide behind the walls or the bush surrounding the yard, too terrified to stand out in the open._

" _So-Soujirou-chan….c-calm down…I can explain…" Naotsugu stuttered, while Kawara and Shigeru had gone bone white with their soul flying out from their mouth_

" _What is your excuse this time, Senpai?" Soujirou loomed over the tied up Adventurers, who were trembling comically_

 _That day the scream of mercy rang out through the Palace (and sometimes they can hear something like a cat squealing in between shouts and screams), which made Krusty smiled in sadistic pleasure and the other Adventurers shivered in fear. Shiroe only shook his head at this, too used to the sight of Soujirou going on a rampage when Riku's well-being was involved (even though the number of those were few, which could be counted on one hand, the amount of mental scaring and collateral damages were impressive, especially since before the Apocalypse when Elder Tale were still a game)._

_END FLASHBACK_

"Please don't talk about it…I still have nightmares about that" Naotsugu shivered then turn to Riku jokingly "It's your fault Ricchan, using that skill then leaving us to Soujirou's mercy…"

"Ahaha…" Riku laughed sheepishly

"Riku-nii, had Shiroe-nii decided on who to send over the gate yet?" Touya quickly change the subject

It had been nearly a year since their raid in Shinjuku communication tower and Shiroe's decision to open a gate connecting the two worlds. The Round Table Conference of Akihabara (RTCA) had spread the words around to cooperate with other regions like Minami and Susukino. Plant Hwyaden had decided on a cease fire agreement (to Indix's protest).

At first they had started experimenting with summoning whistles at first, then the scientist team along with Regan tried to break down the runes formula on the whistles with little progress. Then Riku and his scouting team discover a relic near the mountain range that lead to Susukino and another near Akihabara, in the place which was the Royal Palace in Tokyo in the original world. The relic near the mountain range contained thousands of summoning whistles and talisman to protect, defend,…any kind you can think of. The Royal Palace relic had hundreds of documents written in Landers's language, Adventurer's and also ancient language which was also the language of the runes on the whistles and the transport gates. This had led to a massive breakthrough in fixing the transport gates to other servers in China, America, etc…It took them months before they could use the gates, but after that there had been a huge influx of Adventurers going through. Shiroe had had many sleepless night trying to work out a system to prevent the gate from getting overwhelmed, and only agreed to rest because Krusty – who tagged along with Nanami's group and arrived to Yamato even before the gates were fixed – literally man-handled him to bed to have enough sleep.

Kanami's group were offered to stay at Log Horizon's guild house, which led to chaos and mayhem everyday (but it was a good kind of chaos). Meanwhile Akatsuki ans Minori quietly resigned when they saw Shiroe and Krusty interacting, even Rudy who was as blind as a bat when talking about love can see the affection between the two even if they tried to deny it.

"Well…" Nyanta stroked his whiskers "I think they will choose someone who can handle harsh weather, as the location of the gate is quite…peticular-nya"

"What do you mean?" Isuzu asked curiously

"That's a secret" Riku winked playfully "It will be announced soon, so you don't need to think about it so much"

"Yaho! What are you guys doing?" Kanami barged in with her usual enthusiasm, dragging several of her party along

Riku only watched the scene with amusement, too used to Kanami hyper personality and the mayhem she brought along. The crimson haired assassin then turned his head to the window, looking at the blue sky of Akihabara with determined eyes:

' _Wait just a little more…Tenn-nii…everyone…we'll return soon_ '


	7. Chapter 7

"This is it, today is the day!" Touya said excitedly next to Minori and the others as they went to the square, where practically every Adventurers in Akihabara is assembling.

In the middle of the square stood an enormous metal gate shaped like a circle, with runes carved on the surface and crystals glowing dimly at its feet. Next to the gate is a huge machine that was encased in a black metal box, with a part of it can open like a door so you can see the insides. The square was filled with excited Adventurers, and the Landers can't help but be pulled in the festive air.

Though all talks stopped the moment Krusty, Shiroe and Issac stepped on the wooden stage, everyone directed their attention to the 3, Krusty as the un-official leader of the RTCA.

"ADVENTURERS, WE HAVE WAITED FOR THIS DAY LONG ENOUGH." Krusty shouted "THIS IS THE GATE THAT WILL LEAD US TO JAPAN, TO OUR HOME, AND OPEN THE WAY TO CONNECT OTHER SEVERS WITH THEIR OWN COUNTRY!"

The Adventurers cheered loudly, excited to be reunited with their family. Of course, there were still many who wore sad or disappointed expression, but Krusty's next words made them focused:

"BUT! THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE WILL ABANDON THIS WORLD! THIS WORLD IS WHAT CONNECT ALL OF US, WHO USED TO BE JUST STRANGERS ON THE STREET. WHAT MAKES US FRIENDS, RIVALS, LOVERS, FAMILY! THIS GATE THAT CONNECT US TO THE REAL JAPAN, ALSO CONNECT OUR 2 LIVES, THE LIFE WHEN WE WERE STILL NORMAL HUMAN CHAINED BY SOCIETY'S STANDARD AND THE LIFE WHERE WE CAN BE OURSELVES. DO NOT FORGET EITHER OF THE 2, BECAUSE THEY MADE US INTO WHO WE ARE TODAY." Krusty ended his speech and approached the machines, to the anticipation of everyone.

The Guild Master of D.D.D. pushed the button on the machines, and the crystals surrounding the gate's foot began to glow a golden color, different from the usual bluish-white of the transport gates. Then the runes on the gate started to glow golden too, one after another. The gate's inside began to have a transparent veil, covering the inner surface. It looked like a golden mirror with rainbow colored glass, because the veil inside was to thin it looked like see-through silk. Issac, who was choosen as the first one to go through the gate (in short, a literal guinea pig), stepped up to the transparent veil. The red haired man took a deep breath then walked into the veil, then vanished completely. Everyone waited with baited-breath for the result. A few moments later, Issac poked his head back through the veil and shouted:

"Oi, someone come help me a little? I had just stepped in the middle of a tour, now they are either gawking at me or trying to contact the police!"

But no one heard the later part, because the words " tour" alone confirmed that they had successfully connected to Japan. Deafening cheers and cries sounded out around the square, Adventurers hugging each other and even Landers in happiness. Shiroe and Krusty, both in their RTCA uniform stepped through the gate to the other side, where Issac was waiting with dozen or so tourists either gawking at them or frantically calling the police.

The next few months passed by like a whirlwind. Originally in the game, a day in Elder Tale equaled 2 hours in Japan, and that still applied even after the Apocalypse. But thanks to the connected gate, the two different timeline had merged into one, meaning as long as the gate is still connected they wouldn't need to calculate the time difference. The RTCA and other servers representatives had gone through the gate and had a meeting with Japan's government and fter that with their own countries leaders. The situation quickly escalated in to a politics battle, with other countries demanding the Adventurers to open other gates in their own country and forcing the Adventurers to return to their home whether they wanted it or not. And being the crafty bastard he is (Shiroe's word), Krusty easily see through their attempt and thwarted their plans like swatting aside an annoying fly.

He reasoned that the gate alone took them months to create, with most of the time spent to decipher runes and finding the best combination for the connection. The other servers have neither the resource nor the manpower to build one, and the crystals powering the gate are one of a kind, they took the recess mana in the air from the techniques used daily by Adventurers and the mana in the nature to maintain its energy. This type of crystal wouldn't re-appear in another centuries, and while the Adventurers can live until then, the human from Earth cannot. And speaking of that, Adventurers had effectively become immortal by Earth's standard, what with them being able to be revived and cannot age normally. Many government officials from countries had wanted to have Adventurers in their army, but Shiroe quickly stamped on those thoughts with all of the viciousness of the "Villain glasses". The Enchanter had stated that any Adventurers coming through the gate will be monitored closely, and have to sign a contract that basically does not allow them to:

Adventurers cannot join any associations, organizations or armies in any countries, even if it's from their birth country.

Adventurers cannot attack any normal human unless they were provoked first or they were defending themselves or others.

In situations where Adventurers have to fight, they cannot use any special attack/control techniques unless it's an emergency.

Adventurers cannot talk about the important events or quest in Elder Tale to other human.

Adventurers only answer to the Elder Tale Conference (ETC - which consist of RTCA and other server's representative)

And in return the government also had to sign a contract that have the following conditions as the base:

The government cannot force any Adventurer to do as they wish, and cannot threaten Adventurers' family or friends to force them to submit.

The government cannot know any information about quests, events, Landers' information or the Adventurers' personal information (post Apocalypse).

The government cannot order or let any human through the gate without signing a contract made by Shiroe.

The government cannot use any of Elder Tale's products unless permitted by the ETC (which include ores, crystals, meat of beasts in Elder Tale, herbs, potions, etc…)

Of course there were many more clauses in the agreement, but this was the very basic of it. Thanks to Krusty's terrifying political ability, Riku and his team's information gathering (which was scarily accurate as usual) and Shiroe's ability as the only Level 95 Scribe in Elder Tale, the government officials had had no other choice than backing down.

A town at the base of quickly became the place where Adventurers come and went the most. Ikeda town (A/N: this is just a made up name, so it may or may not be real ) used to be a quiet town consist of mostly the elderly and a small percent of kids and teenagers, but the Adventurers came and it became a lively town with elves and were-people walking around like normal. But the town don't let visitors in easily, as it's the closest to where they can reach the gate the fastest. For visitors and tourists, they can go to Meinika town, which is near Ikeda town, as it's also the place where many Adventurers went to. The amount of tourists going to this town or skyrocketed in just 5 months, right after a trading contract had been agreed between Kinjou Family of Yamato, the ETC and the world government.

Meanwhile, around the world many Adventurers had reunited with their family, and many others had had to disown themselves because their family was either trying to make investment through them or abusing their rights. As Naotsugu had jokingly said, this was "the month of family dramas". Most of the younger Adventurers had reunited with their family, but their new status as non-human had caused rift in some cases and troubles in others. ETC's solution to that was to make being Adventurers a job, as all of the Adventurers old or young had been too used to be independent both emotionally and financially from their parents to return to their normal life. Thanks to the trade agreement, along with the money exchange rate between the two worlds, this decision was easy to solve.

The trouble didn't stop there. 3 months after the gate was opened, warp-gates started appearing randomly around Japan. Those gates connected Japan to the monsters' nets, which thankfully were of Goblins and Sanhuagins, and the amount aren't much compare to a small quest, each time a warp-gate open there's only 7 to 8 monsters go through before the gate closed. And Shiroe had noticed the patterns to all the gates' appearance thanks to the science department. Due to the gate connecting the 2 worlds, a small amount of mana had flown into Japan, causing the warp-gates, which connect Japan to 5 quest-fields. Quest-field is a place where low level monsters reside, and low level Adventurers usually went here to train and level up. The 5 quest-fields were in Kyoto, Tokyo, Akita, Fukui and Okinawa, and the ETC had built a guard-post in each city to take out the monsters.

Things gradually died down after half a year or so, with the Adventurers becoming a quite common site for people of Japan. Life return to normal, or as normal as it can be with Elves and Were-people and Griffins going around, especially in Fukuoka.

Back to our resident information broker, who is forbidden to leave the guild house after over-using one of his Overskills, again, and cannot walk by himself as a price, well, let see what he's doing shall we?

"Soujiiiiii~~~~ I wanna gooooo!" Riku whined pitifully from his spot in the wheel-chair, which was a rare sight that had Log Horizon and West Wind Brigade's members gawking in disbelief (the ones who's not a former Tea Party member anyway)

"No, you cannot. You cannot even walk, Riku, how can you go out in this condition?! What do you think would happen if you collapse suddenly? The whole Akihabara's population is gonna go ballistic, that's what!" Soujirou said with an air of finality

"Bu-but! It's a collab-concert! Tenn-nii will be there! And Yamato-san, and Nagi, and Mitsu, and Sougo-san, and Tama and Iori…And Re:vale too! I want to see them with my own eyes! After all this time I can finally meet them…even if they can't see me, it's okay! Please, Souji…" Riku said whiningly, then unknowingly (or not) used his most lethal weapon: The infamous Puppy Dog Eyes of Doom.

"…No means no, Riku…" Meanwhile, the famed Sword Saint was struggling to not cave before his boyfriend's begging eyes.

"That thing make me feel like I kicked a downed puppy and danced on its mother's grave…" Naotsugu said quietly "And I wasn't the one who opposed to this…"

"But what concert is Riku-san talking about?" Isuzu aksed

"The Autumn Concert where most of the famous male idol group are gonna participate in…most notable are Re:vale, TRIGGER and Riku's old group IDOLiSH7" Nazuna said "There were a Summer Concert for female idol groups several months ago, and this time it's for male groups. It's a new project so there's no guarantee that there would be one next year."

"No wonder Riku-nii wanted to go so bad…" Touya said, turning his attention back to the arguing couple, and everyone could clearly see the resolve in Soujirou's eyes slowly crumbling.

"Well, I would normally oppose to this like Soujirou" Shiroe said, making everyone turn to him "But Riku's condition would be better in about 1 to 2 weeks from now, and the concert is also around that time. And this could be an early present for our informant for his hard work all this time"

"But.." Soujirou protested weakly

"If you are that worried you can always come with him, Soujirou-chan" Shiroe cut the samurai off "And besides, many of us are also going too. Your guild for example, there are about 5 or 6 people who can go, the rest would have to stay back here and watch through the screen we installed at the square. You guys can go with each other because after the concert Riku would still have to go take the reports from our guard-posts anyway"

"Urgh…Fineeeee" Soujirou sighed in defeat while Riku cheered with the others in happiness

' _Maa…I can't really deny that he's the happiest since when the gate was successfully created_ ' the teal haired Samurai thought while looking at his cheering boyfriend fondly.

' _I'm gonna see you soon…Tenn-nii….minna…_ ' Riku thought giddily


End file.
